


Crickety Crick

by Senigata



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Spooky, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27318562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senigata/pseuds/Senigata
Summary: Cloud and Tifa were family people through and through, there was nothing more important to them. Deciding to do her friends a solid, Yuffie offered to babysit for them over the weekend and, after their initial hesitation, managed to get them to agree to it, leaving her and the kids alone. What could possibly go wrong? It was only Nibelheim after all!
Relationships: Minor Cloud Strife/Tifa Lockhart
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Crickety Crick

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween everyone. It's spooky season, so that means another fic fitting for it. Have fun!

**Crickety Crick**

Nibelheim.

A quiet little town at the edge of nowhere. Calm, with a temperate climate that it owed to the mountain on the foot of which it resided.

The perfect place to raise a family, or lie down in a coffin to sleep entire decades away, depending on who you asked.

In other words: an absolute snooze fest.

Yuffie supposed that having to take care of not two but _six_ children helped against the sheer boredom that had to plague someone in this place, but that also left them with little else to do.

Or so she had been told anyway. She hadn't really seen them since they had moved here all of a sudden. All the more reason for her to take some time out of her busy schedule to visit them.

When she arrived there, her fears had been proven pretty much right. But she was nothing if not a great friend and offered the couple a solution: a weekend away, just the two of them, while she was babysitting.

At first, they protested the idea, with Cloud being the most resistant.

" _No way in hell,"_ he had said, not even missing a single beat as he ate his soup that evening.

" _Why not!?"_ Yuffie had asked right back, rocking a tiny, blonde bundle of joy on her knee.

A moment of silence had passed between them, interrupted only by the happy noises from the baby. " _Where do I even start?"_

" _I can watch a couple of kids."_

" _Yuffie, you can't even watch yourself most of the time."_

" _Oooooh! You take that back right this instant, Cloud Strife!"_

It had been Tifa who managed to stop things from escalating. " _Let's at least hear her out before saying no."_

They still hadn't been convinced when she told them how it would do them good to take a couple of days off, just the two of them. But they had grown oddly quiet when she mentioned how the beach at Costa del Sol was especially lovely this time of year, sharing a look once she had been done.

" _You know...maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea,"_ Tifa had said, causing her to grin from ear to ear.

" _See? Two against one now, Spike!"_

" _I didn't say I'm against the idea in general, but..."_ Cloud then sighed. " _Fine, you win."_

That had been yesterday.

Today Yuffie found herself sitting on her friend's sofa, flanked on both sides by Marlene and Denzel.

"Alright kids, what are the rules?" Cloud asked them.

"Don't go too far from town," Denzel replied.

"Don't stay out after dark," Marlene added.

"And?"

"Don't go up the mountain," they said simultaneously.

Smiling, Cloud nodded, then gave Yuffie a look that told her those rules also applied to her.

"Yeah, yeah, gotcha." She waved him off.

"The little ones are all asleep and the kitchen is all stocked up, so no worries about food," Tifa said as she joined them. "There's some formula for the babies, but they can also eat some soft finger foods, too. Just ask Marlene."

Turning to the little girl, Tifa leaned down and whispered something into her ear that made her laugh.

"Don't worry!" Marlene said with a grin.

 _Why do I have the feeling they were talking about me?_ Yuffie wondered.

Together, they all left the house and headed towards the town entrance.

"Now, be good you two, and don't cause Yuffie any problems," Tifa said with a smile as she sat down behind Cloud on his bike, that Yuffie was pretty sure he was using to overcompensate something.

"Don't worry. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?" she asked, earning herself a round of doubt-filled looks. "What?"

Cloud refrained from answering and instead turned the key that made Fenrir come to life. After exchanging goodbyes, the couple drove off.

"See you on Monday!" Marlene called after them, waving her arms. Yuffie, too, waved after them until they were completely out of sight, before lowering her arm and looking at the two kids.

"So what's there to do in this boring old town?" she asked them.

"We play a lot outside. The water tower is fun to climb," Denzel said. "Oh, and sometimes we go out to the beach to explore!"

"Hmm, the beach you say..." Yuffie tapped her chin. "...But the babies. Damn."

"Cloud and Tifa also make us read books from the old library," Marlene explained.

"Wow. That sounds really boring," she said dryly. Chewing on her lower lip, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and tapped her foot, before grinning and palming her fist. "Alright! It's time for Yuffie Kisaragi's Ninja School!"

The two kids just blinked in confusion.

Sighing, she rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna show you how to sneak, climb...and steal!"

"But Tifa says that stealing is bad," Marlene replied.

"Pshaw!" Yuffie waved her off. "It's only bad if you do it to good people. Bad people on the other hand...See where I'm going?"

Sharing a look, the kids shrugged. "Maybe?"

"Ugh. Okay, look at it this way, what I'm going to show you will help you in protecting yourself, your home, and most important—" she pointed upstairs. "—the babies."

Upon hearing of a chance to make themselves useful for the family, the wariness in their eyes made way for an eagerness that only a child could produce. One that Yuffie knew exactly how to exploit.

"Alright, kiddos!" she said and assumed her best sensei pose. "We start with climbing. Get on that water tower!"

The next couple of hours were spent teaching the kids the basics of proper climbing, telling them where they were making mistakes, and showing them how to make as little noise as possible.

She had to admit they were eager little Mus.

By the time they were done with their first impromptu lesson, the two were completely out of breath.

"Not bad, not bad!" Yuffie praised, nodding in satisfaction. "You exceeded my expectations."

The kids shared a wide, if slightly tired, grin and got back onto their feet.

She pulled out her phone to check the time and was surprised to find that it was already midday.

 _Shit!_ she swore in her mind. "Alright, time to make some grub, you two!"

After they headed back inside, Yuffie immediately headed up the stairs to check on the babies, already envisioning the chaos that must be taking place and the resulting lecture that she would be getting from Cloud Strife of all people.

But whatever she expected, it was certainly not finding the four of them sitting in their cribs and behaving like little angels.

 _Huh,_ Yuffie thought. _Well not gonna look a gift Chocobo in the mouth here..._

"Everything's cool in here?" Her reply were three curious stares and one singular clap of hands. "Great! Now be good little munchkins while we're making some food."

She had just left the room and was heading down the stairs when a baby giggles echoed after her. Stopping to look at the door for a second, Yuffie shrugged and continued on her way downstairs.

Making the food turned out to be much easier than feeding the babies after she brought them downstairs. Little Zack, instead of eating, wanted to smear his puree all over the table. Glenn decided it was not soft enough yet and smashed it for a good minute before it was to his liking. Lily was simply acting fussy and only wanted to eat with some serious urging from Yuffie, and even then she only wanted to eat the red foods.

Stella was the only one that was happy to play airship, her red eyes sparkling every time as the spoon moved closer.

Thankfully, the kids had experience dealing with the babies. Denzel especially seemed to be able to reign the boys in.

 _Already the stern big bro, huh?_ Yuffie thought to herself.

After the babies had been fed and put back into their room, as well as having their own lunch, she flopped down on the sofa she had been sitting on earlier.

"That was harder than advertised..." Yuffie murmured, closing her eyes. If nothing else she had just gained some new respect for Tifa in handling all this on the daily. Small steps approached her, making her open her eyes again to reveal Denzel and Marlene standing in front of her, looking like they hadn't just taken care of a bunch of babies. In their eyes she saw the same eager expression as earlier.

"Want some more already?" she asked with a smirk forming on her lips.

"Uh-huh!" Marlene nodded.

"Alright then!"

This was going to be one interesting weekend, she felt.

* * *

Yuffie was lying in bed, her face buried deep in the pillow as she snoozed away. Outside, the sun was starting its slow ascent on this quiet autumn morning.

It was silent apart from a low scratching noise that pervaded the air.

A murmur passed from Yuffie's lips, followed by a snort, before she nestled deeper into her covers.

_Skritch skritch skritch._

"Wazzat!?" She shot up, her eyes slowly cracking open and glancing around. Nothing. "Huh...Huh..."

Blinking a few times, she looked over towards the window, saw that it was still early, and let herself fall back onto the all too comfortable pillow, eyes drifting shut again.

_Skritch skritch skritch._

Her eyes shooting open once more, Yuffie pushed herself off the mattress. This time she was sure she didn't imagine things. She listened for a moment and sure enough the weird noise sounded once more. Coming from...

_The babies' room?_

Jumping out of bed, she padded over to the door and left the room she was inhabiting while Cloud and Tifa were gone. As she approached the room where the babies slept, Yuffie could hear one of them giggling in that way only a baby could produce. Her hand went to the doorknob and, in one swift movement, threw the door open to reveal...nothing out of the ordinary.

Upon entering the room, Stella turned her gaze towards her and released another giggle. Her siblings were all still sound asleep.

"Well someone's an early bird, isn't she?" Yuffie asked after stepping in front of the baby girl. She reached out a finger, which Stella didn't hesitate to grasp with her tiny hand.

"Now who would abandon a bunch of cuties like you in this forsaken town?" she asked, but did not get an answer for obvious reasons. After pulling her finger away, Yuffie picked the girl up and sniffed the air. Much to her surprise, Stella didn't need changing. And from the way things looked, neither did her siblings.

"And aren't you clean lil' monkeys," Yuffie said and tickled Stella's tummy a little, making the girl release an adorable little laugh.

She walked around with Stella for a few minutes, looking around the room to really make sure that everything was alright, until a yawn passed through that tiny mouth and her eyes started to droop again. Carefully, Yuffie placed her back in her crib and watched until she was back asleep again.

 _Guess you aren't that much of an early bird after all,_ Yuffie thought with a chuckle and left the babies' room once more, closing the door behind her as quietly as possible. As she headed back into her room, the ninja had to wonder what that sound was she had heard earlier.

_Maybe they've got rats?_

* * *

Later that afternoon, while Yuffie was teaching them how to sneak and hide, she noticed something peculiar about Denzel. He seemed a bit less enthused compared to yesterday.

"What's got you so down?" she asked him as she dangled by her feet from the roof next to him.

Releasing a yelp of surprise, Denzel jumped and whirled around to face her, eyes wide. "W-what?"

"W-what's got you so down?" Yuffie mimicked him and dropped down to the ground with masterful dexterity. "You've been like this for a while now."

"Oh..." Denzel dropped his gaze to the ground. "Well, usually by this time they would be celebrating the Ghost Lantern festival. The last one I went to was...well...before..."

Yuffie felt herself frown. Before his parents died. And of course then came Geostigma. The kid had had it rough, and of course while Cloud and Tifa did what they could, they could only do so much.

He reminded her a bit of herself, the world around her changing when she wasn't old enough to fully comprehend it. Reaching a hand out, she placed it on the boy's head and tousled his hair, giving him a grin when he looked up.

"Oh yeah, it's spooky season for you guys. Well, guess we have to do something about that now, don't we?" she asked, before raising her voice a little. "Marlene! Change of plans!"

A moment passed before the girl in question peeked her head out of the barrel on the other side of the square.

 _Huh, she's good,_ Yuffie thought while Marlene made her way over to them. "Alright you two, we're gonna have ourselves a spooky evening tonight!"

Her hand shot forward to point at them. "First order of business, let's find something spooky to decorate with. I'm sure there's bound to be something in this place."

It was essentially a _ghost_ town after all.

They spread out after that, not straying too far of course in case the babies needed attention. Yuffie decided to check out the inn, but other than a few dust bunnies didn't find anything. Had someone cleaned up in here…?

 _Oh yeah, Tifa said she wanted to open this place up again for travellers,_ she thought as she made her way back downstairs, stretching herself a little. _Guess that makes it a head tri—!?_

She had just stretched her arms out high above her, when her right hand got stuck on something. Looking up, she found it entangled in what looked to be a large spider web. "Ugh, gross!"

It took her a few tries, but she managed to get her hand free once more. "Jeez, next time be more thorough, Tifa," she muttered while shaking her hand free of any remnant silk. "Hmm..."

Rubbing her fingers together, she couldn't help but admit that it was some very _nice_ silk. _Perfect for some spooky decoration..._

With a grin, Yuffie dashed out of the inn and back into Cloud and Tifa's house, her destination: the kitchen, where she grabbed one of Tifa's many knives. She was sure the older woman would kill her if she ever found out, but you needed to break a few eggs to make an omelette and sometimes you needed to dirty a knife for scary decorations.

She took a moment to check up on the babies upstairs, who were all behaving themselves and playing with their toys, before dashing back into the inn. With careful precision, she cut off a good chunk of the web and, after deciding it was enough, made her way back outside where she ran into Denzel and Marlene.

Yuffie sent them a grin, but then did a double take when she noticed what they were carrying, or dragging in Marlene's case.

A bunch of bones.

As they came closer, she noticed that they were the bones of a baby Nibel Dragon, which were still large enough that she could wear its skull on her head. "Where did you find that!?" she asked in a bewildered tone.

"We found them just outside of town," Marlene said with an excited grin. "We heard something, so we went to investigate and found these!"

 _How in the hell did one make it here?!_ Yuffie wondered. _Maybe it was sick and dragged itself down here? Must've been dead for a while, too..._

She probably had to bring this up with Cloud when they came back, but for now she decided not to rain on the kids parade. A grin splitting her face, she said, "good job. And I'll ignore that you went a little too far out this once. Now let's get this all back inside!"

Together they walked back home.

It took them the entire afternoon, but they managed to sufficiently decorate the house for the occasion, putting up bones and spider webs all over the place. Of course everything needed to be gone by the time the others came back, or it would be her head on the wall, she was sure. Halfway through, Yuffie had gotten another idea and gathered as much paper as possible to build a couple of Wutaian paper lanterns that she placed around the house too.

"In Wutai we come together to celebrate the spirits of our ancestors. We dance, sing and put up lanterns to guide them back home," she explained to a curious Marlene as she was holding little Glenn, who had wanted to know what was going on. "So they can be with us, in, well, spirit!"

Turning to face the girl, she grinned. "That isn't to say we don't have any scary ghost stories. We've got plenty."

"Oooh, are you going to tell us some?" Marlene asked, turning her head to the side so that Glenn couldn't grab onto her braid.

"Hm, let's see what the evening holds," Yuffie replied with a teasing tone. Approaching steps made them turn to see Denzel walk around the corner

"I found them!" he exclaimed.

"Nice work!"

"Gah!" Glenn added smartly.

Following Denzel into the main bedroom, Yuffie managed to keep herself from making a joke about how this was where the magic happened, lest she confuse the kids, and instead dove right at the cardboard box filled with VHSs.

When she arrived a couple of days ago, she couldn't help but take note of the slightly older but still very functional TV and VCR that they kept around here and had to wonder if her friends were keeping some movies around to watch.

With some luck they were keeping some scary movies around.

"Hmm nope," Yuffie said after inspecting the first title and casually threw the VHS onto the bed.

"Nope." Another landed on the bed, soon followed by a third one. "Nuh-uh."

She pulled out another,o squinting to read the already worn title. "What in the—Gone with the Chocobo? Who watches that crap!? Big nope!"

This continued for a bit longer until, finally, she found what she was looking for.

"Crickety Crick, huh?" She had heard about that one. It was about some bug monsters from outer space. _And it should still be tame enough for the kids. But jeez, what an irony here._

Turning towards Denzel, she grinned. "We've got a winner here."

* * *

It was after dinner and putting the babies to sleep, that the three of them found themselves sitting on the sofa in front of the TV, Yuffie taking up the middle and flanked on each side by Denzel and Marlene.

The production logo appeared on the screen, soon followed by a cheesy tune that one could only find in a horror flick. Oh, this was going to be good, she just knew it.

Plot wise, it wasn't anything special. A town in the middle of nowhere and the people in it just living their lives until one day a meteorite decided to crash-land in a cornfield nearby.

The townsfolk of course decided to check things out and from there the horror unfolded, because from the inside of the object from outer space a group of insectoid monsters soon appeared, claiming its first victim: the poor man that owned the land on which they landed. But they didn't kill him, no, it was far, far worse. Instead of just ending his life, they planted something inside him that took over his mind and then they sent him back into town before retreating for the time being with sickening bug sounds.

Next to her, Marlene was clinging to her arms, but never once took her eyes off the screen, while Denzel looked on in excitement.

 _Guess someone likes horror flicks_ , Yuffie thought.

They had just gotten to a very tense scene where the wife of the local bar owner was going to look for her husband who had just been taken over, when all of a sudden-

_Skritch skritch skritch_

Yuffie jumped in her seat. _What in the—?!_

"Did you two just hear th—"

"Shhh!" both of them shushed her, making Yuffie clamp her mouth shut. Her eyes turned upward. She was sure it had come from upstairs.

She shook her head. _Nah, just my imagination._

The movie was getting to her more than she expected.

* * *

" _We can only hope that this was the last of them,"_ the protagonist of the movie said to the wife of the tavern owner as they stood in front of the burning husk that once used to be the town hall, watching as the last remaining bug alien was roasted alive.

The scene faded to a quiet meadow far from town, a lone dog wandering in the night when all of a sudden its eyes started to glow an eerie red and bug screeching passed through his opened jaw.

And then the credits rolled.

"I knew it!" Denzel exclaimed. "I knew one of them would get away!"

"I wonder what's going to happen next?" Marlene asked.

"Guess that has to wait until the sequel. Next time I'm around we can look for it together," Yuffie said. "Now off to bed with you. It's pretty late."

"Okay!" the two chorused and headed to their room. She released a chuckle and started to wind back the VHS to hide any proof of their misdeed.

The kids were pretty tough, she had to give them that. But the special effects were kind of cheap so maybe that helped in that regard. After ejecting the VHS, she headed back upstairs and put everything back where it belonged, before taking a peek into Denzel and Marlene's room where the both of them were already fast asleep.

 _Well, not that tough yet_ , she thought with a grin.

She was just walking towards her room, when a sound made her stop.

Giggling.

 _There goes Stella laughing at the ceiling again..._ Yuffie thought in amusement. But it was way too late for little babies to be awake.

Turning on her heel, Yuffie walked towards the babies' room and put her hand on the doorknob.

"Alright little lady, it's past your bedti—" her words came to an abrupt stop when she noticed that something was amiss. The room was almost completely dark, only the light from the moon shining in through the open window providing a little bit of light.

The window that should be closed.

She walked over to Stella's crib, where the baby was smiling and clapping her hands at seeing a friendly face.

"Shhh." Yuffie raised a finger to her lips, looking into the girl's eyes. "Be quiet."

Stella complied, choosing instead to suck on her thumb like a good little girl. Yuffie gave her a smile, but dropped it when she noticed something peculiar.

A sort of tapping, as if someone was trying to move quietly while on stilts.

Everything went eerily quiet, and Yuffie slowly moved her hand into her pocket to slip on the armband with her materia in it.

The baby in front of her watched with curiosity in her eyes before releasing her thumb with an audible pop.

Yuffie twirled around lightning fast, raising her arm towards where the sound came from, fire materia glowing ominously and ready to strike. A shadow shot past her across the ceiling at blinding speed, jumping down and out of the window.

"Shit!"

Running to the window, she spotted whatever it was as it hightailed it away from the house. Without any hesitation, Yuffie jumped out of the window, doing a tumble when she hit the ground, and made to pursue it.

 _Some monster_ _making it into town!?_ she wondered. It looked like a spider but...had horns.

Shaking her head, Yuffie pushed the thought aside. This thing was _fast_. But she was a ninja from Wutai, she wasn't so easily shaken off.

As they exited the town, the creature turned and made right for the woods.

"Don't think you can get away from me!" she yelled after it.

Their little game of cat and mouse continued until she had chased it into a meadow, the dead grass snapping as they both ran through it, where it came to a halt in front of a spring.

"Given up?" she asked and raised her arm, ready to roast whatever this creature was. Slowly it turned around to reveal itself to her fully.

A strangled noise escaped Yuffie as she stared into the visage of a perverted mixture of a goat and spider, its long ears hanging low and its pedipalps rubbing together while all of its eight eyes were staring at her with tiny amber circles that were glowing in the moonlight.

"What the hell _are_ you?" Yuffie found herself asking. The only answer she received was a weird chattering noise.

_Skritch skritch skritch_

Tearing her eyes away from the creature, Yuffie found herself looking into a multitude of those very same eyes right in front of her.

_Skritch skritch skritch_

She whirled to the left. More eyes.

_Skritch skritch skritch_

To her right. Even more!

The chattering became louder as more and more of these beings joined in, creating a choir that made her head buzz, like the fangs of a viper biting into her brain after coiling around it and injecting its poison.

"S-stay away!" Yuffie gritted out, a hand going to her head while she backed away, raising the arm on which she wore her materia in a threatening manner. "Stay away or I'll roast every last one of you!"

Her back collided with something hard...and warm.

Despite knowing that it was a terrible mistake, Yuffie turned around to come face to face with nightmare incarnate. Where the smaller ones were an amalgam, the _thing_ towering over her was definitely more spider, but for its face, that was almost purely goat. Five amber eyes, far too human-like for a monster such as this, glared back at her. She stared at it in a daze, forgetting her materia as the buzz grew more intense.

It snorted from its nostrils...

And everything went dark.

* * *

A groan escaped her as knuckles rapped against her door, and Yuffie cracked an eye open as Marlene stepped inside.

"Yuffie?" the girl asked.

"Mhm?" was Yuffie's response, face still half buried inside her pillow.

"Are you coming down for breakfast?"

"Sure sure..." she mumbled, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them wide and shooting up in bed to look at her. "Breakfast!?"

"Yeah. It's almost 9," Marlene said matter of factly. "We tried to wake you earlier, but you were only saying 'Five more minutes' for the last hour."

"Huh..." Yuffie blinked. She usually got up earlier than that. "I'll be right there."

"Okay!" With a smile, Marlene left the room.

Looking at the door, Yuffie let herself flop back down onto the mattress. She must have been more tired than she thought she was. Hell, she couldn't even remember going to bed last night. All she remembered was sending the kids to bed.

 _Whatever, not like I have anything important going on right now anyway,_ Yuffie thought and sat back up to get out of bed. She reached over to her nightstand and frowned when her fingers only made contact with carved wood.

With a confused expression, she touched her forehead. Not there either.

"Strange?" she mumbled. "Where's my headband?"

Deciding to make sure to look for it later, Yuffie left the room to get herself something to eat. She was starving!

The door had just closed, when a fur covered, eight eyed head peeked out from underneath the bed. Climbing out of hiding, it made its way over to the window on spidery legs. A pair of hands went up to its forehead, just above its last pair of eyes, where a headband was wrapped around it.

Doing a happy little dance, the Dugafel climbed out of the window to continue its daily duties.

**Author's Note:**

> Heh, I hoped you liked this little piece. I'm sure some of you probably figured out what was going on rather early, and those of you who stumbled across this and don't know I recommend checking out Call of the Mountain by Denebola_Leo, as well as A Call of Spring and Homecoming by yours truly for the full picture.


End file.
